Energy efficient building design

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an energy efficient housing and to a method of providing an energy efficient housing wherein building material and house structure aim to provide a system effectively using external temperature for house needs. The house is built of multilayered blocks having layers of concrete and layer of mixture of concrete, cellulose fiber and sand surrounded with exterior and interior stucco finish layers prepared by a simplified process. The concrete layer has a plurality of air passages with baffles used for transferring of hot and cool air which change the temperature from the house walls and roof heated with sun radiation or cooled by cold outside air. The hot air is transferred to a hot air reservoir for further household needs and cool air is transferred to a cold air reservoir.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to energy efficient housing and, more particularly, to a method of providing energy efficient housing wherein building material and structure provide a system effectively using external temperature for heating and other energy needs of the building.

2. Background Description

Efficiency of buildings in terms of energy consumption is affected mostly by two major factors: source of energy and insulation. In terms of energy source, contemporary housing usually relies on central heating systems which can be run on gas, oil, electricity or solar energy. However, all the above sources are costly and largely inefficient. Even buildings which use solar panels for collecting energy still require very expensive equipment which is usually susceptible to damage in order to collect and preserve energy of the sun in electrical form. However, conversion to electrical energy introduces additional inefficiency as well as being costly and, therefore, such systems are not in widespread use. More typically, the equipment necessary for using solar energy usually includes solar panels which heat water or air as an energy transfer medium for further use in the building. During the day, the sun heats all outside walls and roof of the house but the solar panels can capture only a small fraction of this heat since it is not practical or aesthetically acceptable to cover all outside building areas with solar panels even though solar energy can be used more effectively than other energy sources.

Solar energy collection systems which use air as an energy transfer medium are generally more convenient than systems using a liquid energy transfer medium. The use of an air solar panel system in U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,798 presents the advantages of solar heat but eliminates the problems which can occur if water is used as the heat transferring medium. However, the system still requires solar panels which should be installed on a roof of a building and does not collect energy incident on the remainder of the building. Storage of heat also presents problems since solar energy cannot be collected at night and known collector panels are structurally, by their nature, good radiators of heat energy to the environment.

It is well understood that energy efficient buildings should have particularly good insulation qualities. Unfortunately, many materials having good insulation properties cannot carry significant structural loads and vice-versa. However, superior insulation qualities can be achieved by using a special materials. For instance, cellulose as an additive to concrete can provide advantageous insulating qualities but has proven difficult to suitably prepare. U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,844 discloses a method and process of making a lightweight cellulose modified aggregate cement. According to the method, dry pulp fiber is saturated with a fortifying solution in order to yield moldable material suitable for use in the formation of molded construction components. Such fortifying compounds are finely ground prior to mixture and cellulose fiber is prepared prior to fortification by purification. The purification is accomplished by mechanical grinding and application of an ammonia solution. Afterwards cement is added to the mixture. The resulting mixture is used for molding construction blocks. However, such blocks cannot be used on outside building surfaces since they contain cellulose fibers which can be affected by moisture.

Therefore, there is a need for simple, energy efficient housing wherein the solar energy can be collected and preserved more effectively using materials which are more suitable for construction. Specifically, a system is needed wherein all heat given by the sun to the outside walls of the building is effectively collected and preserved for household needs. Moreover, there is currently no known construction method or structure which can effectively use a building environment as an energy source or sink consistent with simple and inexpensive construction techniques.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a building construction made of multilayered blocks or panels having an interconnect for transferring heated or cooled air from the outside part of walls heated by the sun or cooled at night time, thus using solar energy or the absence thereof for heating or cooling purposes in the building.

It is another object of the invention to provide a structure which provide such advantages while being fabricated by a simple method suitable for mass production as well as a simplified procedure for preparing materials fro the same.

According to the invention, in order to perform energy transfer, special building blocks or panels are used. Specifically, the part of the block or panel facing the interior of a house or other building is made of a mixture of concrete with fibers such as cellulose fiber, preferably from paper, which provides exceptional insulation properties while the outer portion is formed from a dense concrete mixture capable of heat transfer and which is resistant to moisture as well as being capable of bearing substantial structural loads. Generally, the proposed block or panel has an exterior part about 7 inch as thick, made of dense concrete and an interior part of a block approximately 9 inches thick and made of mixture of cellulose (e.g. paper) fiber, sand and cement in particular proportions. The walls also have exterior and interior finish of stucco or other moisture resistant material about ½ inch thick which provides an aesthetically pleasing appearance. The dense concrete part preferably includes air passages or tunnels with baffles penetrated by a plurality of small holes about 1 inch or less in diameter with about 1 inch in between holes in a vertically spaced layout. When the outside wall is heated by the sun, these small holes and baffles are used to transfer as much solar heat energy as possible to air passed through the holes and then to a reservoir filed with river stones or analogous material which is inexpensive but has a relatively high specific heat (the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of a given quantity thereof by a given amount). The portion of the block or panel facing the interior of the building, due to containing cellulose fibers (e.g. from newspapers), has good thermal insulation properties and has one or more channels for utilities, vents, air passages to reservoirs and cutouts for doors, windows etc.

Mid floors of an energy efficient building in accordance with the invention are preferably formed with structural steel and preferably have three layers, one of which will be a mixture of paper, concrete and sand. A roof of an energy efficient house in accordance with the invention is built with structural steel and paper-cement layer with a dark waterproof, monolithic membrane to capture as much solar energy as possible. A triangular or gabled form of this roof provides internal tunnels for air passages to and from the reservoirs to the walls and roof piping. According to the present invention, reservoirs preferably include well rings filled with river stones or some dense inert material. Preferably sump pumps are placed around the perimeter of the reservoirs to remove seepage. Well rings can be also placed inside this perimeter and act as a support for the foundation if local construction code allows. Pumps or fans are used to move air in and from reservoirs, if heat or cooling is needed in the house, air can be moved either directly from the wall system and/or the reservoirs to the building interior during the day. Air from the wall system can also be used to heat water for household use.

The wall sections are made in a plurality of pours. The outer wall thickness is first poured as a slab, over an outer finish surface such as stucco, if desired. Forms are added for the baffles and rods inserted to form the holes in the baffles and the baffles are poured in a second pour after which the rods are removed to complete the holes in the baffles. The inner wall sections are poured separately in a manner similar to the outer wall sections except that pipes, conduits and/or raceways and electrical and plumbing hardware are included. Depending on the nature of the baffled forms, the outer wall section can be inverted and placed on top of the inner wall section before curing or, preferably, the inner wall section can be poured on top of the outer wall portion and the baffle forms removed thereafter. According to the present invention the pouring could be performed in a substantially continuous process.

The process of preparing a mix of cement and cellulose fiber preferably involves placing newspapers and sand in a device for mixing concrete and adding excess water (relative to the amount later required in the concrete) and allowing the sand to abrade the wet newspaper by normal operation of the mixing device. When the cellulose fiber reaches the proper consistency, the excess water is removed and the proper amount of Portland cement is added and mixed with the sand, cellulose fiber and remaining water which can be supplemented as needed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, aspects and advantages will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a schematic presentation of the heat transfer system in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a schematic presentation of heating/cooling system of FIG. 1A in an energy efficient building;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of layers of the block or panel used by the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of a panel used for the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a modified panel used for the present invention;

FIG. 4 a is an isometric view of a modified panel having air transfer baffles between layers of a panel;

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a process of making a block or panel used for an energy efficient housing in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flow-chart illustrating the process of manufacturing a block or panel used for building an energy efficient housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

The principal purpose of the present invention is to capture, store and use as much solar energy as possible during the day, when the sun heats outside walls of a house and/or radiate heat therefrom at night or when solar energy collection is not needed or possible. Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1A, there is schematically shown an energy efficient heat transfer system in accordance with the present invention. While FIG. 1A, for clarity, shows only a single, exemplary block in accordance with the invention, the entire exterior surface of the house or any desired portions thereof may be used as a collector or radiator of energy as shown in FIG. 1B. The walls 11 and roof 113 of the building, due to the special block structure, can transfer heat from the exterior surfaces, heated by the sun, to a heat reservoir 12. When heat is needed in the house, air can be moved either directly from the wall system or from the heat reservoir 12 using pumps 14 and 15 under control of valves or diverters 21, 22. Heat also can be used to make hot water in the house by a water heater 20. Similarly, for cooling, air can be moved directly from walls or from cold air reservoir 13 using pumps 16 and 17. It should be noted that air preferably flows upward in the heat exchange panels when heat is collected and downward in the heat exchange panels when heat is being radiated such that convection can assist or even replace the action of pumps 14-17. Direction of air flow in the wall panels is controlled by valves 24-26. Return of air to the system is preferably accomplished through the appropriate reservoir 12, 13 under control of valve 27. It should be understood that the placement of valves and pumps relative to the heat exchange panels is not critical to the practice of the invention and, in general, will be dictated by the building design, including consideration of day and night ambient temperatures and other environmental factors.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the walls, ceiling (interior and exterior) and floors of a building in accordance with the invention are made of panels or blocks, a structure of which will be explained later with reference to FIG. 2. Other energy collection systems such as solar batteries 111 may placed in a roof 113 of the house in combination with the invention and may be used to power the pumps or fans for energy transfer. It should be appreciated from FIG. 1B that any number a portion or all exterior surfaces may be constructed with panels in accordance with the invention. It should also be appreciated that the circulation system of FIG. 1A, also shown in FIG. 1B may be modified or even duplicated to allow ambient conditions outside the building to be exploited as fully as possible to achieve desired effects. For example, energy may be collected on one (e.g. south facing) or more surfaces or sides of a building while another surface (e.g. north facing) or side (or portion thereof) can be used to radiate heat. Separate systems may be provided for respective heating/cooling zones of the building. It should also be appreciated that blocks or panels similar to those used for exterior panels can also be used on the interior of the building as illustrated at 28 of FIG. 1B to provide radiant heating from walls, floors or ceilings or to collect heat for radiation to the building exterior or elsewhere in the building. The layered structure as will be discussed below can be oriented for control of the direction of preferred heat collection or radiation or even layered with the heat exchange sides of the block to the outside and the insulating sides toward the middle of the layered structure to, for example, collect heat at a ceiling on one level and radiate heat from the floor on another, either directly or by heat exchange from the respective reservoirs 12, 13.

The capture, storing and usage of solar energy is made possible due to the special structure of the building blocks or heat transfer panels from which an energy efficient house or building in accordance with the invention is made. As shown in FIG. 2, the preferred building panel has a multilayered structure. Specifically, there are four distinct layers in a panel structure: exterior finish layer 31 (e.g. stucco), dense concrete layer 32, an insulating layer made of mixture of concrete with cellulose fiber (e.g. paper) and sand 33, and interior (e.g. stucco, plaster or the like) finish layer 34. Layer 32, made of dense concrete, has air passages 35 a with baffles defining chambers 39 including a plurality of small tunnels or holes 35 b between chambers 39 with diameter of about 1 inch or smaller for air circulation. The air passages 35 a are preferably formed into a vertical layout array and form horizontal chambers communicating air from block to block as the blocks are assembled. Similarly, it is considered preferable for the top and bottom of each block to be shaped to provide a plenum at the top and bottom of the wall when the blocks are made having a length corresponding to a level or story of a building and/or to form air passages 35 a when the blocks (regardless of the height for which they are fabricated) are laid in courses. This feature of the invention simplifies air routing and reduces air flow restriction where openings are made or formed in the blocks for doors, windows and the like. During energy collection, these air passages allow air to be warmed and transferred to a hot air reservoir 12 shown in FIG. 1 to be later used for household needs. These baffles and holes also induce a degree of turbulence in the air flow to enhance heat transfer to the air from the dense concrete while also causing flow over the interior surface of the holes to maximize air temperature rise. The number of baffles, so formed, may be varied as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, to adjust the amount of energy transfer which occurs for a given rate of air flow and/or to adjust flow due to pumping and/or convection. This warm air could be later used directly to warm the house inside and/or for heating water 10. During night time, when the exterior walls cool down, an analogous process can be performed for radiating heat to the building exterior to produce cool air that can be transferred to a cold air reservoir 13. The cool air also can be pumped directly from the building exterior if it is below reservoir air temperature. The cool air can be used later for cooling purposes inside the house.

The layer 33 of a building block or panel can preferably be fabricated 9 inches or thicker and includes a mixture of cellulose fiber, sand and cement. More specifically, newspapers and other paper products can be used for this mixture. The proportions of paper, sand and cement in this mixture are preferably approximately 1:8:2. With this amount of cellulose in the mixture a fire resistant layer is produced which, at the same time, can securely hold nails and other common construction fasteners and provide good insulation for the house compared with regular dense concrete. The layer 33 also preferably contains support columns for the upper floors 112 and roof 113 and also contains channels 36, 37 for utilities. If it is necessary in view of ambient climate, the layer 33 can contain voids filled with insulation such as fiber glass or plastic foam. Cutouts for doors and windows are also made in this layer as well as layers 31 and 32 with air passages around the perimeter thereof in layer 32. The layer 33 is covered with stucco, plaster or other finish material layer 34 facing interior of the building. Interior walls or other surfaces which could be applied inside of the energy efficient building are preferably made of the paper mix and stucco, omitting or reducing the dense concrete layer to the extent possible in view of anticipated loads and/or heat transfer needs. These wall panels also contain channels and fittings, as desired for vents, air passages to reservoirs and cutouts for doors, etc.

Intermediate floors are formed with structural steel and panels suitable therefor preferably comprise three layers. The upper surface would preferably be poured first with stucco to form a stone like surface. Other layers in all interior walls, ceilings and floors which are not to be used for energy transfer as described above comprise concrete containing the paper filler and can contain ducts for air distribution which may or may not provide for heat transfer. For some building panels where load-bearing strength is less important, the proportion of paper filler could be increased to reduce weight.

The roof of an energy efficient house is built principally with structural steel (some or all of which may be provided as reinforcement for the block, as generally (e.g. omitting dense concrete layer depicted at 32 of FIGS. 2-3) and the paper-cement mixture as described above. After placement of roofing panels, a system of piping is laid down and covered with a dark waterproof, monolithic membrane 111 to capture as much solar energy as possible as shown at 41, 42 of FIG. 1B. The monolithic membrane 111 should tilt south where possible. The roof has preferably triangular form and since this shape can provide internal tunnels for air passages to and from the reservoirs to the walls and roof piping.

The reservoir for collecting heat 12 and for collecting cold air 13 are preferably placed under the floor of the building and preferably made in the form of well rings. The ring structure allows a fairly deep placement with a prefabricated aspect that allows efficiency in construction. The rings are filled with river stones or some dense inert material such as concrete chunks. The rings can be placed side by side with gravel or insulation between. Gravel around the bottom of the rings is preferred with one or more sump pumps to remove seepage. Rings can also be placed around the perimeter of the excavation and a large reservoir of stone placed inside this perimeter. This perimeter placement can act as a support for the foundation if local construction code will allow. The order of construction during installation of well rings preferably is: first, to pour the main foundation at the bottom of the excavation, place the rings, pour a floor over the rings filled with stone with appropriate tunnels for air movement and access to pumps 14, and 15. The warm air is delivered to the bottom of the reservoir 12 and removed from the top. For cool air reservoir 13 the procedure is reverse, e.g. the cool air is delivered to the top and removed from the bottom of reservoir 13. Otherwise the structure of the warm air reservoir and the cold air reservoir are substantially the same. For that reason, it may be desirable, depending on seasonal climate differences, to provide a plurality of reservoirs and which can be used for either cool or warm air and to vary the number of reservoirs used for each of cool or warm air from season-to-season depending on anticipated building needs. It is also preferred that the reservoirs be constructed such that the filler in the rings can be washed periodically in order to remove dust.

FIG. 4 shows a portion of a modified wall panel structure which can be used by the present invention. Specifically, in this modification the wall comprises a space constructed by two layers of paper/concrete mixture 33 a, 33 b defining a cavity filled with loose river rocks or gravel 210 such that air may be circulated therethrough. Tunnels 35 b of layer 39, which may or may not include air passages 35 a, leading to a reservoir of hot air, are placed, in this variant embodiment, closer to the outside side of the wall and separated from the inside air only by a thin stucco layer and relatively thinner paper-cement layers. This modified embodiment of the invention allows all or part of the reservoir(s) to be formed in the wall panel itself in addition to the amount of energy that can be stored in the dense concrete layer in both this embodiment and the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3.

In applications where temperature stability is of high importance (as distinct from achieving a particular temperature with improved economy), it has been found by the inventor that the structure of FIG. 4 a not only provides a substantial reservoir capable of storing a large quantity of heat energy but that heat transfer can be achieved very quickly, efficiently and spontaneously merely by providing for air transfer more or less directly between layer 39 and reservoir 210 at the tops and bottoms of wall sections. For example, in greenhouses, it has been found that convection is entirely sufficient for circulation of air between layer 39 and reservoir 210 to maintain substantially constant or adjustably moderated or stabilized temperature inside the greenhouse when baffles such as those indicated at 41 a, 41 b are provided at the top and/or bottoms of the reservoir and air tunnels 35 a, 35 b. These baffles prevent the reversal of the heat collecting or radiating operations of this variant wall panel when temperatures in the reservoir exceed the temperatures in the air tunnels and vice-versa or may be used to control the function of the wall panels in regard to heat collection or radiation in accordance with particular internal and external conditions. Of course, additional reservoirs as described above and/or fans or pumps to augment air circulation within the wall panels and/or for air exchange with the building interior in much the same manner as has been described above.

FIG. 5 shows the process of making a building block or panel which is used to construct an energy efficient building in accordance with the invention. According to the present invention, wall and ceiling panels are poured in horizontal forms in a factory situation for good quality and efficiency. The panels may then be transported to the building site for installation on the previously poured foundation as discussed above.

The formation of an exterior wall panel begins with step S1, a stucco layer 21 formation, shown in diagram on FIG. 5 and in flow-chart of a process in FIG. 6. The exterior stucco layer 21 can be about ½ inch thick and may have decorative parts or pattern as may be desired. In order to reinforce the outside finish a metal mesh 28 is preferably placed on the stucco layer in the next step S2. After that, in the step S3, the next 7 inches or so of exterior wall is made of layer 22 comprising dense concrete. Further, in order to form small tunnels 25, metal rods are placed in concrete in step S4. After placement of the rods the layer is finished by pouring concrete in step S5.

The next layer 23 could be about 9 inches thick and made of special mixture of concrete with paper and sand. The process of preparing this mixture is started by mixing cellulose fiber (paper, newspaper or like) with sand and water in a concrete mixer or the like until paper is abraded into fiber, step S7. An appropriate size mixer is loaded by weight with one part of newspaper, eight parts of sand suitable for making concrete and thirteen parts of water. After mixing, the prepared slurry is put into a press for removing about five parts of the excess water in step S8. After excess water removal two parts of Portland cement is added and mixed with slurry in step S9. Before the paper-cement mixture is poured into the form or at any time the curing of the dense concrete is adequate, rods, placed for forming tunnels 25, are removed from the structure in step S6. The part of paper/cement mixture is poured into the form and raceways 26 are added in step S10. After that, the rest of the mixture is poured into the form, the form can be removed in step S12. The process is finished by formation of interior stucco layer 24 in step S13.

While the invention has been described in terms of a single preferred embodiment, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. 

1. An energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and/or roof surfaces heated by solar radiation, comprising: walls made of multilayered panels or blocks having a plurality of air passages for transferring heat from the walls heated by solar radiation in at least a first layer and an insulating second layer; heat reservoir means for collecting heat transferred from said walls through said air passages; cold reservoir means from which heat is transferred to said walls through said air passages; heated air distributors comprising a first plurality of pumps.
 2. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as recited in claim 1, further comprising roof panels made of structural steel and multilayered panels having a plurality of air passages for transferring heated air from the walls heated by solar radiation.
 3. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as recited in claim 1, further comprising floor panels formed of structural steel based multilayered panels.
 4. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as recited in claim 1, wherein said multilayered panels have four layers: internal moisture resistant finish layer, mixture of concrete with paper and sand layer, concrete layer and external moisture resistant finish layer.
 5. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as recited in claim 1, wherein said multilayered blocks have four layers: internal moisture resistant finish layer, mixture of concrete with paper and sand layer, concrete layer and external moisture resistant finish layer.
 6. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as recited in claim 1, wherein said multilayered panels have six layers: internal stucco layer, first layer of a mixture of concrete with paper and sand layer, river rocks filling, second layer of a mixture of concrete with paper and sand layer, concrete layer and external finish stucco layer.
 7. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as recited in claim 6, wherein a plurality of baffles between river rocks filling layer and inside a house and layer with plurality of air passages are provided.
 8. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as recited in claim 1, wherein non-heated air is distributed by a second set of pumps.
 9. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as recited in claim 1, wherein said heat reservoir and cold reservoir comprise spaces containing with stones.
 10. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as in claim 2, wherein in said mixture of concrete with paper and sand layer contains two parts of concrete, eight parts of sand and one part of paper or cellulose fiber.
 11. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as recited in claim 2, wherein said internal moisture resistant finish layer and external moisture resistant finish layer are stucco layers.
 12. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as in claim 3, wherein in said mixture of concrete with paper and sand layer contains two parts of concrete, eight parts of sand and one part of paper or cellulose fiber.
 13. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as in claim 1, wherein said heat reservoir means in formed separately from said walls.
 14. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as in claim 1, wherein said heat reservoir is at least partially included within said walls.
 15. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as in claim 14, when said walls include baffles adjacent a top or bottom of said heat reservoir means to regulate heat transfer to or from said heat reservoir means.
 16. The energy efficient housing heat from exterior walls and roof surfaces heated by solar radiation as in claim 15, wherein said baffles further control air exchange with an interior of said energy efficient housing.
 17. A multilayered building panel for building an energy efficient housing, comprising: an exterior stucco layer; a dense concrete layer having a plurality of air passages; a paper, sand and concrete layer; an interior stucco layer.
 18. A process of making a multilayered building panel comprising the steps of: forming an exterior moisture resistant layer; placing a metal mesh on said exterior stucco layer; forming a dense concrete layer; adding rods to said concrete layer in order to form a plurality of passages in vertical plan of a panel; preparing a cellulose fiber, sand and water mixture; removing excess water from said paper, sand mixture; adding Portland cement to said paper-sand mixture; forming a paper/cement layer; introducing raceways into said paper/cement layer; forming interior moisture resistant layer.
 19. A process of making a multilayered building panels described in claim 18, wherein said exterior and interior moisture resistant layers are stucco layers.
 20. A process of making a multilayered building panel as in claim 18, wherein said cellulose fiber is paper.
 21. A method of preparing cellulose fiber for use in a construction material comprising the steps of: combining one part cellulose fiber and 8 parts of sand; adding 13 parts of water; mixing cellulose fiber, sand and water until said cellulose fiber is abraded; putting the prepared mixture into a press for removing about 5 parts of excess water; adding 2 parts of Portland cement to the mixture of cellulose fiber, sand and water; mixing Portland cement, cellulose fiber, sand and remaining water until all ingredients are mixed well. 